Chapter 20

Tina finally got out of Vince’s house for the night, but she was right back in the morning because Melissa had asked for help when she’d arrived home. Melissa would need a few moments to run to the privy and such. Most likely before Mrs. Yates was up and dressed for the day. Vince watching her would never do.

She woke to an unusual rainy morning, for it was a dry land here in Texas. She wasn’t prepared for the sand to stick to her shoes as it had, and she’d only been in the house long enough to pull off her muddy shoes when she heard the crash. All she knew was that if Mrs. Yates was breaking things, it was bad. Barefoot, she rushed for Virginia Belle’s room. A cry of alarm from behind the locked door nearly made her drop the key they’d left in the lock.

Livvy yelped from inside, then broke into a whine.

Tina fumbled the key for a second but held on and got it turned. She wrenched the door open.

Mrs. Yates held a lit match in her hands.

She stood amidst shards of glass from a broken lantern, looking around as if she wasn’t sure what the match was for. The front of her long white nightgown was soaked in kerosene. If she dropped that match, she’d light herself on fire as well as the whole room, and with the fuel soaking the floor the whole boardinghouse could go up in flames.

The poor little foxhound stood outside the circle of glass, focused on her mistress but unable to get to her. Livvy had probably stepped on the glass.

Tina took one step toward Virginia Belle and stopped. Her feet would be cut to shreds, but the match in Virginia Belle’s hand was burning down. Tina couldn’t let the match drop, even if it meant walking on broken glass with bare feet.

Before she took the next step, Vince thundered up the stairs.

She looked back, and their eyes met for a moment. She could have cried, she was so relieved to see him.

He pushed past her, crunched over the glass. He was wearing his shoes . . . and wearing the same clothes . . . and he’d come from downstairs.

He’d kept watch all night. But he must have slept or he’d have come out to torment her when she arrived.

Vince crossed the room to his ma, plucked the burning match from her fingers and blew it out, then swept his barefoot mother up in his arms.

“Missy made this mess, Julius.” His mother looked stern.

“We’ll clean it up, don’t worry.” Despite his soothing voice, Vince’s expression of worry put lines in his face. How could they keep her safe?

It had never occurred to Tina to take the lantern and matches from the room, but now it seemed so obvious. What other things were they forgetting? Mrs. Yates looked like a befuddled child.

“Stay back, Tina. I don’t want you to get cut.” The concern in his voice almost drove out the memory of how he’d rejected her last night. “Get your shoes on, then come back and gather some clothes for Mother. I’ll take her to my room. We’ll need to wash the kerosene off her. You can do that and get her dressed while I clean up this mess.” Vince looked toward the dog. “Livvy, come.”

Slowly the dog followed him out of the room. At first glance Tina didn’t see any wounds, but the dog’s yelping had sounded like pain. She’d check Livvy’s paws as soon as she could.

Tina dashed down the stairs and yanked on her sodden half boots. She heard Vince’s orders as if they still echoed in the house. He was a man who knew how to lead. Tina didn’t think that was a bad thing, but she suspected Vince only saw his natural take-charge reactions as a regrettable resemblance to his father.

Soon Tina was back in Virginia Belle’s room. Mindful of the shattered glass, she stepped carefully as she gathered up a fresh bundle of garments for Mrs. Yates.

Tina went into Vince’s room and saw his mother sitting on the bed. Vince knelt at her feet, head bowed as if he were before royalty. He spoke softly to her as he lifted one foot and examined it carefully for cuts.

“You didn’t cut yourself.” Vince sounded so loving as he cared for his mother.

“My mother is a madwoman, and my father is a tyrant. Whichever one of them I am, no woman should tie herself to me. I am never going to inflict myself on a woman and most certainly not on a child.”

That was what he’d said when he rejected her. And yet here he knelt, a picture of decency and love. Not like either of his parents.

“I think Livvy cut her paw.” Vince said it so quietly, it took Tina a second to realize he’d aimed the statement at her rather than his mother.

Before he had to give more orders, Tina went to Livvy. The dog was standing there resting her chin on the bed. Tina stooped down by the dog, which put her shoulder to shoulder with Vince. When Tina lifted the injured paw, she noticed a few drops of blood on the floor. Nothing serious, but the dog would be hurting for a while.

After checking, Tina said, “There’s no glass stuck in her paw, and it has stopped bleeding already.”

“Good, because we need this dog.”

“Livvy is hurt?” Mrs. Yates reached down and patted the foxhound’s head. “This is Missy’s fault.” Mrs. Yates turned to Vince. “Julius, I insist you dismiss her at once.”

For all the things she was forgetting, what if Virginia Belle remembered Missy breaking the lantern and refused to be around her? That would take an important pair of hands away from the job of caring for Vince’s mother.

“I have to ride out and hunt for Lana and Porter, and we need to track down the man who shot Red Wolf. If we don’t settle things to the Kiowa’s satisfaction, well, we don’t want the tribe to start feeling hostile.”

Focusing on the dog’s paw, Tina knew what would come next. The job of caring for Mrs. Yates was going to fall even more heavily to her. And that still left her job at the diner.

She looked out and saw the sun was pushing back the night. Tina barely had time to get Mrs. Yates cleaned up and dressed before she’d need to get to the diner and start her morning’s baking of bread.

Well, Mrs. Yates was just going to have to pour coffee today, because Tina couldn’t watch her over here and cook over there. And giving the lady a big pot of boiling hot coffee no doubt qualified as one of those potentially dangerous things they should make sure she be kept away from.

Of course Glynna could care for Mrs. Yates. She could be spared far more easily at the diner. A sad but true fact, though the menfolk in town thought getting a private moment to speak to Glynna was an important part of their meal.

None of them had much to say to Tina—what with her scolding them for their drinking habits. But that was just fine, as she was too busy scooping up food for the polecats. And maybe they’d start liking her more soon, because with cooking and sheriffing and now tending Mrs. Yates, Tina hadn’t found time to picket for quite a while.

“You know, I saw protesting Duffy’s Tavern as a mission field.” Tina gave Vince a disgruntled look.

Vince didn’t answer as he examined his mother’s other foot, but Tina thought she heard a quiet moan come from him.

“And my mission is even more badly needed in light of the drunken cowpoke at Luke’s and the shooting of Red Wolf.”

“Not sure you waving around a placard would’ve changed all that. Besides, Duffy denied selling any bottles of whiskey.”

“Well, he would, wouldn’t he?” Tina decided kneeling beside Vince was too friendly. It made her feel as if they were kneeling at the altar. She’d heard of couples doing such during a wedding ceremony and she had no wish to emulate that, however slight the comparison.

She rose from the floor, scooped Livvy into her arms, and sat beside Mrs. Yates, who reeked of kerosene. “Livvy and I are going to get more water. I believe Mrs. Yates is going to need a bath.”

“I have a fair supply of water already heating,” Vince said.

“When did you do that?”

“I had plenty of time because I didn’t get any sleep last night.” Vince looked up at Tina, and she saw the dark circles under his eyes.

“I’m sorry if you’re tired, Julius.” Tina said the name with relish, and Vince’s expression promised retaliation. Good luck to him. “It’s just that I don’t have much time for sympathy, what with having two jobs and being on the verge of being evicted from my home when the day comes that Jonas casts me aside for a wife.”

“He won’t cast you aside.” Vince looked at her hard, and the heat in his gaze reminded Tina of every time he’d touched her.

Tina felt her resentment grow. She liked being angry better than feeling hurt. “I’ve got less than an hour before I need to start breakfast. I’ll be back with a tub and the water.”

Stalking toward the door, thinking of how heavy it was all going to be while a big strong man was right here and not offering to help, she was in the hall when Vince said, “Tina, wait.”

His commanding voice had her stopping without really choosing to, which annoyed her. But she turned back. Maybe he was going to offer to do the heavy lifting at least.

“It’ll be a lot easier for you if you leave the dog here.” Vince smiled a cranky smile that let her know he was tormenting her deliberately.

“Fine.” She let Livvy down, and even the dog she’d been tending abandoned her to worship at Virginia Belle’s feet.

As she tromped down the stairs, Tina thought back to the day she’d come to town and moved into Jonas’s house. A single woman caring for her bachelor brother in a quiet little Texas town hadn’t seemed like it was that big of a job. But honestly there weren’t enough hours in the day.